Title: 2012 Nissan Rogue SV, brake noise, battery and brake lights, random horn, cut cable under hood

Hi, I recently bought a 2012 Nissan Rogue SV with about 200,000 km, and I am having a series of strange problems that started after I left it parked for one week.

Before leaving for vacation, I disconnected the battery to avoid draining it. When I came back, the car started fine and everything seemed normal for a couple of days. Then I began to hear a rusting or scraping noise when braking. At first I thought it was only surface rust from rain or sitting, so I kept driving and braking, hoping it would clear up, but the noise stayed.

Then another issue started. After one hard braking event, both the battery light and the parking brake/brake warning light came on while driving, then went off again a couple of times. Today it did not happen again, and the car still starts normally.

I checked under the hood and found something even stranger. There is a cut tube or wire loom hanging near the engine block. Inside it there are 3 wires, and it looks like they were intentionally cut. I do not know what this cable is for or whether it is related to my problems.

Now the car has also started honking by itself when I stop or sometimes when the ignition is on. The only way to stop it is to disconnect the battery. I do not think the car has an aftermarket anti-theft system, so I do not understand why this is happening.

I am not sure if all these issues are connected or if they are separate problems. Has anyone seen something similar on a 2012 Rogue? I would like to understand:

What could cause the brake scraping noise after the car sat for a week? Why would the battery light and brake light come on together only sometimes? What could that cut 3-wire cable be? Why would the horn start going off by itself?

I can also upload a picture of the cut cable if that helps.

 

That looks like wires to the block heater. They do not look cut but look like they were caught in something and tore, shredded or ripped. They do not look like any factory 12 volt wiring. Not sure on the horn. Good luck!